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Accepted offer over bidding

So..our accepted offer has somehow been overbid!!!!

How does that even happen? the last thing I wanted or need in my life was a bidding war. Owner accepted ,but EA has some 'sneaky' offer that just happens to trump ours..
My euphoria crushed...

I don't have a good feeling about this... :(
«1

Comments

  • elsien
    elsien Posts: 36,670 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    The estate agent could be lying.
    The owner could have decided that more money on the table was fine by them.

    You don't have to get into a bidding war. You can sit tight, see what happens and walk away if you need to.

    Have you done everything you can to make sure that you are in a good position to proceed quickly - sometimes that rather than the money is the deciding factor for the vendor.
    All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

    Pedant alert - it's could have, not could of.
  • Slinky
    Slinky Posts: 11,297 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Nearly 2 years ago we bid quite a loooong way over to secure a house we wanted as we'd been outbid on another further down the street. We particularly wanted that street so we did what it took to secure it. On the face of it it looked like we'd gone mad, but another similar one since has been done up and sold for £60K more than we paid. This isn't in London.



    You can't second guess what motivates other people when it comes to property purchasing.
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  • Well, I tried to everything to avoid a bidding war, my offer was that it was taken off market and I spoke with the owner and I apparently had offered what they had had in mind and we had all agreed right then and there, done deal get the bubbly out!
    Suddenly today before anything is done and their offices hardly open..there is another offer..So technically "could" have come before mine or whatever...
    So I sit here tonight with no idea of I am buying this house or not...with a mortgage application in progress!

    The worst system ever...
  • Just walk away
  • sal_III
    sal_III Posts: 1,953 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts
    Well, I tried to everything to avoid a bidding war, my offer was that it was taken off market and I spoke with the owner and I apparently had offered what they had had in mind and we had all agreed right then and there, done deal get the bubbly out!
    Suddenly today before anything is done and their offices hardly open..there is another offer..So technically "could" have come before mine or whatever...
    So I sit here tonight with no idea of I am buying this house or not...with a mortgage application in progress!

    The worst system ever...

    Offer accepted has no legal binding. There is no done deal before exchange, both parties can walk away at any point. It's quite possible that the property was indeed taken off the market but someone who had already viewed it decided to make an offer.

    It sucks for you but, se la vì
  • Chimpy9
    Chimpy9 Posts: 35 Forumite
    The house we loved went for best and final offers and we came in 4th highest (only found out later on) so we obviously didn’t get our offer accepted. Fast forward 5 weeks all offers above ours fell through and they accepted ours. Hopefully exchanging in a few weeks. Totally the fault of the EA as they did absolutely no pre-qualifying of the other buyers and none of them had the AIP in place or in a position to move quickly which we were. You never know when they’ll come knocking on your door again asking you if your original offer still stands but I get your disappointment and frustration.
  • kevChan
    kevChan Posts: 14 Forumite
    Second Anniversary
    In my case, I asked the estate agent what the seller wanted.
    Sounds quite silly, but the agent said a number to me.
    It was the upper most limit I would accept.

    I offered it and the seller accepted. It was only 5k (but quite a lot for a grad at the time who just walked out of uni for a few years). I'd not seen anything similar again in the market for a while after I moved in.

    so just ask yourself:
    do you really want this place?
    if you think there is better, walk away.
    if not, be happy you got your dream place!
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Well, I tried to everything to avoid a bidding war
    It's up to the vendor as to how they handle multiple bids.

    It won't be a "war", though, unless you choose to up your bid. If you just shrug, say "Not for me, then." and walk away, there is no war. Somebody else has just been happy to pay more than you were.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 18,256 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    How does that even happen? the last thing I wanted or need in my life was a bidding war. Owner accepted ,but EA has some 'sneaky' offer that just happens to trump ours..

    Once an offer's accepted, EAs don't generally go looking for higher offers - because that potentially delays the sale, and delays them getting their fee.

    But if somebody contacts the EA with a better offer, the EA is legally required to pass it on to the seller.

    So your annoyance should probably be with the seller, not the EA.
  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Fifth Anniversary Name Dropper Photogenic
    elsien wrote: »
    The estate agent could be lying.
    The owner could have decided that more money on the table was fine by them.

    You don't have to get into a bidding war. You can sit tight, see what happens and walk away if you need to.

    Have you done everything you can to make sure that you are in a good position to proceed quickly - sometimes that rather than the money is the deciding factor for the vendor.


    There's no way an EA is going to jeopardise an agreed sale in this situation.
    Up to you what to do now OP, if it was me I wouldn't put forward a higher offer, I'd just wait and in the meantime start looking again, withdraw your mortgage application .
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